SATURDAY NIGHT was lively around the nation for all the wrong reasons: it was muggy, pre-summer turmoil as violence and rage filled the USA with crushing and bruising scenes --America had maybe reached a tipping point? If you were watching the mayhem on TV, you saw all you needed to see, from Tacoma to Washington DC and LA to NY and Philly.
On KGO Radio, it was more than live and local. San Francisco was surprisingly quiet, Oakland too, for the most part, but LA/Fairfax was beginning to crumble. Police and demonstrators fought it out; anarchists posing as protesters were setting fires and confronting police who in turn confronted the protesters.
John Rothmann, as he is want to do, was in the studio chair Saturday night on KGO Radio holding court --Rothmann was set to do his normal, 5-8 PM weekend shift, but as the night began to become more perilous and images more frightening, Rothmann received a directive from KGO boss, Lee Hammer, to stay in the studio and continue on another hour and broadcast till 9 o'clock. As it turned out, Rothmann could have stayed at KGO and continue to take calls and go all night. He would have had he been given the call. For Rothmann, it's not only civic duty it's where he belongs, where he thrives and excels --part of his blood.
"There's no place I'd rather be," he extols every night.
Rothmann broadcast was a tour-de-force on Saturday evening --(AUDIO click here) with precise news events, robust monologues, insightful takes on breaking news developments and crisp interaction with callers who were just as informative and insightful as host Rothmann was; what a tremendous evening even if much of America's cities were burning.
This is KGO's meat and potatoes --more precisely, Rothmann's Beethoven --he's not the only one who can pull this off, but damn near the only one. Rothmann was built for this social orchestra as it played out and although it involved a most turbulent time for all the nation and Bay Area, I'm glad it was Rothmann who acted like a virtual play-by-play man, a 2020 War-of-the-world's Like-production-- I'm being a tad dramatic but if you listen (or were listening at the time) then you'll understand my description.
It was the vintage KGO and it was spectacular --I wish KGO could do this 24/7 but I also understand the new reality of pandemic budgets and 2020 revenue streams. In that sense, it all makes sense but we need some creative minds like Hammer to make more special Saturday night live broadcasts possible even if the country is burning.
Watching Sara Sidner on CNN right now. What's with all of her hand gestures. She's dropped the journalistic neutrality facade and she's sounding like a BLM activist. But the hand gestures make her look like she's on drugs. (But she looks like she's dropped a few pounds, so good for her.)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see your "hand gestures" when a rubber bullet whizzes past your head, while you are on the air. She's gesturing towards where cops and demonstrators are clashing, in a constantly changing and very dangerous scene.
Deletethe fascinating thing about rothman and other who do shows, even the horrrible nicki medoro, is that often the same callers call in daily and have heard them on all their shows on the same day..i thought talk radio had a policy once upon a time, that people couldnt call in more then once a week..and the repetitive callers are all trumpers/maga/bigots
ReplyDeleteNot on Chips show. They're all low IQ low information voters that echo CNN and MSLSD.
DeleteYou should listen to small time Santa Cruz station ksco! Same hillbilly trumptard callers on every show. Those idiots bitch and whine about living in California stroking each other several times a day. Hey geniuses you don’t like it? Get the F out of my state!
DeleteI saw her too, and there weren't any rubber bullets flying around. The finger pointing and waving her arms looked unprofessional. If this was her audition for a primetime show, she won't be getting the job ... unless it's a sitcom.
ReplyDelete"For Rothmann, it's not only civic duty it's where he belongs, where he thrives and excels --part of his blood." You nailed it. John Rothmann changes the temperature of room air from cool to hot and back again. His shows are exciting, stimulating and often explosive. He is more than informative and more than essential; he is absolutely imperative.
ReplyDelete